That's what I have now:

check:
        $(PYTHON) -m py_compile $(SOURCES)
        rm -f $(addsuffix c, $(SOURCES))

make check
python -m py_compile redacted-build redacted-git-diff redacted-git-gc redacted-git-status redacted-init redacted-server
redactedbuilder.py
rm -f redacted-buildc redacted-git-diffc redacted-git-gcc redacted-git-statusc redacted-initc redacted-serverc redactedb
uilder.pyc

That's what David is suggesting:

check:
        for file in $(SOURCES); do \
            python -c "compile(open('$$file').read(), '', 'exec')" || exit 1; \
        done

make check
for file in redacted-build redacted-git-diff redacted-git-gc redacted-git-status redacted-init redacted-server redactedb
uilder.py; do \
            python -c "compile(open('$file').read(), '', 'exec')" || exit 1; \
        done

That's what I could have if I live long enough to see Python 3.6 on my development machine.

check:
        $(PYTHON) -m py_compile --no-output $(SOURCES)

make check
python -m py_compile --no-output redacted-build redacted-git-diff redacted-git-gc redacted-git-status redacted-init redacted-server
redactedbuilder.py

If that does not seem like an important improvement, then I can live with what I have.